I was utterly thrilled earlier this year to be asked to contribute a mystery story to an anthology called Murder and Mayhem. It will be published by Egmont next Spring and features complete short mysteries by twelve authors (including me!).Here is the front cover. Doesn't it look gorgeous!
Just look at the list of authors on the front of the book and you'll understand how honoured I feel to appear in this amazing line-up. All my favourite children's mystery writers are there. I'm sure there will be some of your favourites too. I can't wait to read their stories (we haven't all read each others' stories yet too, so it will be a lovely treat for us too!)
I won't give too much away about my story but I can tell you that it is my first foray into historical fiction - i.e. a story that is actually set in the past, unlike Secrets of the Tombs, which is set in the current time, even though it features events that have their roots in the distant past.
My Murder and Mayhem story is set in the eighteenth century, at the height of the craze for growing pineapples. Being a distinctly tropical fruit, growing pineapples in the rather less than tropical conditions of a British garden was something of a challenge in those days, even with a glasshouse. A home-grown pineapple became a massive status symbol - which is why pineapples crop up (no pun intended!) all over the place in Georgian art and architecture.
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| Pineapple folly at Dunmore in Scotland and a rather natty pineapple coffee pot |